Endocrinology News and Research

Latest Endocrinology News and Research

Why people eat the foods they do

People purchase foods based on their income level, their belief in a food's health benefit and cost. However, ethnicity and gender also impact people's food choices, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

27 Mar 2007

Researchers discover vitiligo gene

In a study appearing in the March 22 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at St George's, University of London, the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC) and the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes have discovered a connection between a gene and the chronic skin condition vitiligo, as well as a possible link to an array of other autoimmune diseases.

22 Mar 2007

Newly discovered peptide could help transplant for diabetes

A peptide developed by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College may expand the availability and durability of islet cell transplant for patients with type-1 diabetes, which is characterized by a lack of these insulin-producing cells.

21 Mar 2007

Dramatic increase of Type 1 diabetes in under fives

Researchers are calling for more work in to the reasons behind a big increase of young children with Type 1 diabetes. A new study, led by Bristol University, has discovered that the number of children under five-years-old with Type 1 diabetes has increased five-fold over 20 years.

19 Mar 2007

Ultrasound could help couples undergoing IVF

Ultrasound-based tests allowing women undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to count their chickens before they've hatched may provide alternatives to the hormone-based tests used today.

15 Mar 2007

Growing number of young people have fatty liver disease

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers are taking a closer look at a disease whose incidence is rising as obesity in children increases.

15 Mar 2007

Researchers use poliovirus to destroy neuroblastoma tumors in mice

The cause of one notorious childhood disease, poliovirus, could be used to treat the ongoing threat of another childhood disease, neuroblastoma.

15 Mar 2007

Exposure to phthalates linked to abdominal obesity and insulin resistance in adult males

Exposure to phthalates, a common chemical found in everything from plastics to soaps, already has been connected to reproductive problems and now, for the first time, is linked to abdominal obesity and insulin resistance in adult males, according to a study by the University of Rochester Medical Center.

14 Mar 2007

Arsenic in drinking water can lead to miscarriages and sudden infant death

For the first time, researchers have been able to show that mothers who drink water containing arsenic run an increased risk of having a miscarriage or losing their child in its first year. This has been demonstrated by a research team from Sweden and Bangladesh in an article published last Saturday in the Net edition of American Journal of Epidemiology.

14 Mar 2007

Researchers uncover genetic sequence responsible for rare form of pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is an almost uniformly fatal disease regardless of the stage at time of diagnosis. However, a small percentage of patients develop a form of ductal adenocarcinoma associated with cystic lesions that can be detected earlier, is less aggressive and has a 50 percent long-term survival rate.

14 Mar 2007

Understanding link between polycystic ovary syndrome and insulin resistance

It is known that women with PCOS have a 3-fold increase in their risk of developing type-2 diabetes, where the body does not produce enough insulin or cannot use insulin properly. Insulin resistance is an important factor in the condition, which is the most common female hormone disorder. PCOS affects between 5 and 10 per cent of women and is a major cause of infertility.

12 Mar 2007

A food supplement that could prevent the development of diabetes and atherosclerosis

The health benefits of cutting down on dietary saturated fatty acids and including higher levels of unsaturated fatty acids are well documented. Nutritional research is focusing on the effects of incorporating these healthier fatty acids, such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), into animal and human diets. CLA is present in dairy products and meat from ruminants and in very low amounts in our bodies.

11 Mar 2007

Islet cell trasnplant without immunosuppressive drugs successful in mice

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College may have reached a breakthrough in the search for a lasting cure for type 1 diabetes.

11 Mar 2007

Kidney disease in children: common but treatable

"Kidney disease occurs more often than we think, but it is also more treatable than we used to think, especially when caught early," says Barbara Fivush, M.D., director of nephrology at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

8 Mar 2007

Impact of maternal obesity on the NHS

A new study reveals the true costs of the increase in maternal obesity and how it is impinging on service delivery in the NHS

8 Mar 2007

Researchers show how endocrine cell types are produced in the pancreas

An international research team has identified the process by which pancreatic progenitor cells give rise to different endocrine cell types.

8 Mar 2007

Computer key unlocks cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease

Danish and Belgian researchers have found a computer key that maps genes underlying heritable disorders, such as breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease. These results will possibly ease the discovery of new medicines and improve treatment in various disorders.

8 Mar 2007

Hormone kisspeptin stimulates release of the sex hormones which control periods

This finding suggests that kisspeptin could be a potential new treatment for fertility.

7 Mar 2007

Pregnant women should supplement vitamin D

Pregnant women should take steps to ensure they have adequate vitamin D in their diet, or they and especially their unborn children may run the risk of developing autoimmune diseases such as diabetes and thyroid diseases.

7 Mar 2007

Mayo Clinic tests engineered measles virus against multiple myeloma

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has opened a new Phase I clinical trial testing an engineered measles virus against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow that currently has no cure. This is the third of a series of molecular medicine studies in patients testing the potential of measles to kill cancer.

5 Mar 2007